Jose Mourinho to axe eight Chelsea players

It looks as though it will be all change at Stamford Bridge this summer as eight of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea squad are set for the exit doors as the club look to revamp.

The West London club has already sold David Luiz for €50m whilst Frank Lampard, Samuel Eto’o and Ashley Cole’s contracts will expire at the end of June and there are rumours circulating that five more players will be sold in order to generate funds.

Fernando Torres, Romelu Lukaku, Petr Cech, John Obi Mikel and Ryan Bertrand are all set for the axe and could generate over £70m in transfer funds which could be used to freshen up a squad that needs to change.

Chelsea’s manager Jose Mourinho is determined to have a stronger squad next season (Picture: AP)

Although he’s always given his all for the club many fans would be relieved to see Torres, who has been a monumental flop, leave the club and, similarly, the likes of Mikel has never really been truly appreciated by the majority of the Stamford Bridge faithful. It’s also a shame that Mourinho may not deem Bertrand even good enough to play a squad role.

But should Cech leave it would be with heavy heart and there’s an argument that offing Lukaku before he has reached his full potential could come back to bite Chelsea in the long run. It looks as though Thibaut Courtois is set to return to his parent club this summer, which is the right choice, and if Mark Schwarzer is retained as a back-up then it would seem Cech will be off in order to play the first team football he deserves at another club.

In general it would probably be for the best if the aforementioned moved on with Lukaku being the exception. The Belgian has not had a fair chance with the Blues, the club won’t get his true market value unless he does something incredible at the World Cup and he’s scored enough goals to warrant a spot. Diego Costa may be a fancy new toy but the only proven Premier League goal scorer on the books, in terms of forwards, at Chelsea is Lukaku.